


No Secrets

by sideofgrima



Series: Chrobin Week 2020 [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M, Female My Unit | Reflet | Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:48:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27129481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sideofgrima/pseuds/sideofgrima
Summary: Day 2: Grima & NagaChrom is Robin's partner in crime, one who she keeps no secrets from.Except for one.And that one that ends up being their downfall.
Relationships: Chrom/My Unit | Reflet | Robin
Series: Chrobin Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979573
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32





	No Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> I think of this as the events that take place in Lucina's original timeline, where Robin isn't able to fight of Grima's control and ends up giving herself to him, since we never really get to know exactly what happened.

The dreams started not too long after meeting Chrom. 

At first, Robin had no idea what they meant. They came in blips and seemed disconnected, like they were fragmented stories being shown to her through a broken window. Sometimes she’d see the endless stretch of the morning sky and feel as if she was flying, her great wings pumping her through the air. Other times, she’d see rain falling in sheets down upon a barren wasteland.

But most of the time, she existed in a vast darkness, surrounded by a writhing serpent. Though serpent was a loose word, since it had no constant form as it was ever shifting into something larger, smaller, feathered, scaled and anything in between. She could move, she could speak… and any sensible person would see a monster made of shadows and flee, even in the comfort of their own dreams.

Yet a part of her, perhaps a sick and twisted one, felt drawn to the beast. It neither spoke or acknowledged her, or did it seem to even realize she was there. Most of her dreams were spent sitting in the same vicinity as the creature, just trying to understand what it was and why she wanted to be near it. 

And then the voice came. 

**There you are.**

In her dreams, she never heard voices. Frankly, Robin wasn’t sure if she’d heard _anything_ when in her odd, waking dreams. But this was clean, crisp and _bold_. The voice, whoever its speaker may be, was deliberately talking to her. 

**Yes, yes… surprising, I know.**

The voice only spoke in the dark dreams, where the serpent seemed much more aware. It’s shape remained constant, no longer fluctuating size or texture. When it spoke, it’s eyes remained fixated on Robin, glowing and unnerving.

**What a tiny little thing…**

She should’ve felt terrified, she should’ve tried to wake up… but that same part of her willed her to stay, no matter what she told herself or no matter how bad her branded hand burned or ached when the beast spoke.

**This world is so big… so vast, yet you play a very small part in it.**

**I can see in your head that you do not know me. You do not remember me. My name isn’t a part of your vocabulary.**

**Such a shame.**

**You could be more, you know. Just as I was all those years ago.**

**I think I like you, little one. No matter how peculiar you may look.**

**That man, the one with the blood of the divine… he seems to have taken an interest in you.**

**I, too, was once in love. But those feelings have long subsided.**

Each night was more and more cryptic, the voice becoming more insistent on Robin responding. 

**I wonder why you do not talk back to me.**

**Is it fear?**

**Maybe ignorance.**

**Whatever the reason, I'd like to hear from you, little one.**

**~*~*~*~**

Even when she awakes from her dreams, Robin’s hand sears with pain. A pain that she’s never felt before, as if something is trying to force its way through her skin. It leaves her in agony, unable to wield a sword, which Chrom notices during their sparring sessions. 

He suggests they take a break, bringing her to Lissa to see her hand healed, but even the princess’s magic isn’t able to take the pain away.

But she lies anyways.

~*~*~*~

Chrom tells her about the Fell Dragon. He speaks of Grima’s sins and the millions he slaughtered, nay,  _ devoured _ . He explains that Naga and the First Exalt put him to sleep a millenia ago, though they knew his binds wouldn’t hold for long. 

The prince tells her about how his blood is that of Naga’s, divine and holy. 

Within her, a part writhes in unexplained hatred and ire. 

~*~*~*~

The voice starts speaking to her during the day, where it's much harder to avoid. A whisper here, a passing thought there. But there are times when the beast roars in anger, or offers Robin advice on tactics.

In the end, it leaves her more and more confused on what it’s ambitions are. 

**I can assure you I am not out to hurt you.**

**Have I ever been wrong before?**

**Tell me, have I ever** **_lied_ ** **to you?**

She doesn’t want to respond, but something compels her to.

_ You haven’t, as far as I know. _

**Ah… so she** **_can_ ** **speak.**

_ Yes… and I’d like to know more about you.  _

And so they indulge, telling her about their life that they lived, how they’ve seen it all: love, hope, betrayal and anger. They tell her about how hard it is to have something stolen away from you… and they tell her everything, save for a name. 

In the end, Robin finds herself coming to enjoy the beast's company.

~*~*~*~

The Grimleal… devout followers of Grima. 

Chrom says they plague the Plegian sands like flies on a festering wound.

The voice says that they simply mourn the loss of their god. 

Robin isn’t sure which one is true. 

But once the Shepherd’s have made camp for the night within the sand dunes, Robin finds herself in Chrom’s tent.

“Ah, hello,” he says with a warm smile. “Did we have a meeting tonight that I forgot about?”

“No, no,” she reassures. “Can’t I go to a friend to engage in conversation without there being a job behind it?”

“Of course you can. I’m always happy to see you, Robin.”

Their talk starts jovial, despite the pressures of rescuing Emmeryn and the oppressive heat of the desert. But as the night creeps on, the air turns sour. Chrom laments on how he isn’t sure if he’s worthy of the blood within him, on account of letting his sister get captured.

“Naga’s blood… but it flows through Emmeryn and Lissa as well, yes ?” She asks.

“That is true, our brands are proof of it... well, save for Lissa."

“If Emmeryn has the same, strong blood as you, then she’ll survive until we can rescue her. I’m sure of it.”

Chrom thanks her for her kind words, and the mood lightens.

“Though, while we’re talking about Naga, I have a question I’ve been sitting on for a while,” Robin says. “Perhaps I’m ignorant on the topic of divine dragons… but have you ever spoken with her? Maybe you’ve had a dream that might’ve been her trying to contact you?”

“I haven’t, and no one in my family has since the First Exalt. Sometimes my dreams are more prophetic than usual, but I don’t think she’s ever tried to talk with me.”

“I see… Forgive me for asking, as I don’t mean to instill blasphemous thoughts, but do you think Grima has the ability to speak with people?”

“The Fell Dragon? I’m not sure… What has you asking?” Chrom questions.

“I just heard some soldiers talking about him earlier, what with us being in Grimleal territory. They said that his followers have been trying to revive him through offering a vessel of some sort… do you think that’s really possible?”

“I think that if any demon that’s as evil as Grima was is presented with the opportunity to rise again, he would take it without a moment's notice. But if he hasn’t awoken yet, then I assume that means the Grimleal have been unsuccessful in their endeavors.”

“Right you are… Sometimes all this talk of ancient dragons and holy blood and sacred swords has me wondering if they were ever true. Of course, you have Falchion and the brand to prove it but… if you haven’t spoken with Naga, and no one has… is it possible they were never real?”

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about that… Frankly, until I see her or the Fell Dragon revived, my piety will remain at a minimum, I’m afraid,” Chrom says with a laugh. 

“Of course, it’s always safe to remain a sceptic-” Robin goes to say, though a strike of hot pain shoots through her skull. 

Louder than ever before, the voice speaks.

**I can assure you, I am very much real.**

Her blood goes cold.

“Robin? Are you alright?” Chrom asks, placing a hand upon her shoulder for support.

“Y-yes, I’m fine… just a sudden migraine, I suppose,” she says quickly before standing up. “I should probably go nurse this off before we march tomorrow, I’d be miserable if I didn’t.”

As she rushes back to her own tent, her mind races.

_ You… I don’t understand. _

**It’s very nice to finally meet you, Robin.**

_ Augh, don’t use my name… I know what kind of monster you are. _

**You do? Or have you just heard the stories of what others have told you?**

_ Almost everyone in Ylisse despises you, Grima. That can’t be for no reason. _

**The stories of my life have been greatly exaggerated after my sealing. History is written by the victors, after all.**

Robin  _ hated _ that he had a point. 

_ So, what, I’m stuck with a demon in my head until my life ends? Is that it? _

**Demon? And here I thought I recalled you enjoying my company.**

_ That was before I knew what you were. _

**And that doesn’t have to change. Have I done anything to gain your mistrust?**

_ Gah- Stop! I don’t want anything to do with you! I-I… I have to tell Chrom. _

**And what do you think would happen?**

_ Excuse me? _

**You’ve seen the virile hatred that man has for me… what do you think would happen if you told him about our connection? Perhaps he would cart you off to Ylisstol to have you killed. Or maybe he would make an example of you in front of the army?**

_ Chrom would never hurt me. _

**You’ve known him for, what, a few months? Humans aren’t really known for their trustworthiness.**

_ I don’t understand… _

**That’s what you do. You fight and hurt and bleed each other for even the smallest scrap of food. You stab each other in the back, no matter how deep your bonds may be.**

_ I… No, I have to tell him. _

**I can tell you, Robin, that he would kill you with no hesitation. It's his birthright to seal me away, as you know. That’s what the sword on his hip was created for: to kill blights like us.**

Robin shuts her eyes and grips her head, trying to focus on something other than the Fell Dragon. 

_ No, no, no! I have… I have to- _

**You don’t have to do** **_anything_ ** **. If you recall, I’ve never asked for a thing from you. I haven’t asked for you to give yourself unto me, and I surely haven’t manipulated you for my own gain… so what is the harm in keeping this to ourselves?**

Robin throws herself down onto her cot and screams into her pillow. Never in her life has a conflict like this reared its head, and frankly, she’s unsure if anyone in the army could help her. 

She thinks to Chrom.

“We’re partners in crime, with no secrets in between us.”

Those words fall on deaf ears.

~*~*~*~

She thinks back to those words as she and Chrom exchange their wedding vows. 

They’d pledged their life to one another.  _ This _ should’ve been the first thing she tells him… but she remains silent.

Robin hates herself for not telling her husband, the one person out of everyone she can trust, but every time she gets close to doing so, a part of her thinks of the consequences.

Telling Chrom may result in her death, leaving him ‘partner-in-crime-less’. 

So her choice to keep her secret is both a selfish and selfless one.

Or perhaps that’s what she tells herself.

~*~*~*~

“We’re partners in crime.”

Robin thinks back again on those words as she pulls her hand away from the lightning bolt stuck in her husband's side. 

Chrom stumbles a bit, looking shocked, hurt, regretful, or maybe all three. But he still forgives her. 

Her hands crackle with magic, her heart shattered into pieces. As his body falls to the cobbles floor, she drops to her knees, a steady stream of tears coursing down her face. But she does not wail. She does not sob. 

**I didn’t think you had it in you.**

“You… you made me do it…” she mutters.

**Not I, tiny one…** **_him_ ** **.**

Her attention is pulled to Validar, her monster of a father, cackling like a madman. 

**He has some innate control over you…** **_I_ ** **had no hand in this.**

  
  
  


**But I can have one in reversing it.**

**You leave your daughter fatherless, Ylisse kingless… and your heart shattered. What will the Shepherd’s say to you when they see what you’ve done?**

**That is… unless you let me have control.**

**I can fix this.**

**_Let me fix this._ **

So Robin does, unaware of any other solution. She feels Grima’s overwhelming presence floods her senses, his great power filling every fibre of her being.

It’s intoxicating. 

The first thing he does is kill Validar without hesitation.

The second is rise Chrom from the dead. Her poor husband's body writhes in pain as it is reanimated, his wound still fresh. His eyes, once a deep, warm blue, now radiate the same, cold red that Grima’s does. 

“ **Robin…** ” Grima speaks. “ **I owe you an apology.** ”

_ What? _

“ **I have waited eons for this moment… to have a physical form… to breathe in my own air… to have unalienable control over everything around me… this isn’t something I can give up.** ”

_ You- _

“ **Perhaps it is a self fulfilling prophecy but… being alive once again makes me realize how much I’ve missed godhood… and how many sinners I must punish. Your husband, though his very existence offends me, is a powerful warrior. By my side, and yours… we can change the world.** ”

_ Don’t you DARE! _

“ **It’s unfortunate that you’re in a position where you couldn’t even** **_dream_ ** **of stopping me. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry. But I bid you farewell.** ”

_ Grima, no. You can’t do this… I-I trusted you. GRIMA! _

So this was what it felt like to be on the other side of consciousness. Like the dark dreams she used to have, she wandered an endless plain of nothingness, until she felt her physical form slowly start to dissipate, replaced with an ever shifting form of nothing.

Gods above, had she made a mistake. 

One that she would never be able to fix.

~*~*~*~

The first time Naga speaks to him is at the base of the Dragon’s Table. Chrom looks to his wife, who gives him a sharp nod, readying themselves for the battle ahead. 

**Halt.**

The voice catches him by surprise. 

**You’re making a grave mistake.**

**To ascend the tower is to accept your death, my child.**

What manner of sorcery-.

**I give this warning as to prevent the fall of the world. Your wife had cursed blood running through her. To climb the tower, she will surely lose herself as the Fell Dragon already has his hooks in her.**

_ I… What is this… _ he thinks back.

**Chrom, wielder of my fang and carrier of my blood, I pray that you turn away and leave. This is a death sentence.**

_ Naga…  _

**Indeed.**

_ In all my years, I’d written off hearing from you completely, but now… you first contact me to tell me that my wife isn’t strong enough to fight off whatever demons have a hold of her? _

**I am simply telling you-**

_ I want no part in this. Robin and I’s bond are stronger than you’ll ever realize… and to prove that, we’re going up this tower to snuff the threat out once and for all. The same threat you failed to kill a thousand years ago.  _

**My child, I-**

But he shuts the rest of her message out. If the only time the Divine Dragon chose to speak to him was  _ now _ of all times? He wanted to hear none of it. 

Though a warning is a warning, and one that he should have listened to. 

He comes to this conclusion as his wife runs him through with her magic. 

As he feels the last of his strength leave him, he watches as her body is corrupted, glowing lines etching themselves into her soft skin. 

His partner in crime.

The one who kept no secrets from him.

Except for one.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Awakening is my favorite game of all time, but, as much as I love him, I wish Grima wasn't such a one dimensional villain. We get a little more about him in Heroes, but nothing in Awakening. I've always thought the idea of Grima bing an ever present being in Robin's conscious to be interesting, and help make a little more sense when she gives in at the end.


End file.
